TARGET LEIPZIG: The RAF's Disastrous Raid of 19/20 February 1944 [Hardcover]

Alan Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2009

Seventy-nine heavy bombers failed to return from the catastrophic raid on the industrial city of Leipzig on the night of 19/20 February 1944. Some 420 aircrew were killed and a further 131 became prisoners of war. It was at that time by far the RAF's most costly raid of World War II. The town was attacked in an attempt to destroy the Messerschmitt factory which was building the famous and deadly Bf 109 fighter. The bomber stream flew into what appeared to be a trap. It seemed that the Luftwaffe and anti-aircraft guns were aware of the intended target and waiting to pounce as soon as the bombers crossed the coast. They were subjected to constant attack by night fighters and intense flak until those aircraft that remained clawed their way home and secured relative safety over the North Sea.

This book analyses what went wrong. Espionage played a part, two bombers collided shortly after take off, as did others as they wove their way through enemy searchlights and maneuvered violently to escape Luftwaffe night fighters. At the outset poor navigational and meteorological briefings had hindered the bombers attempts to locate the target and confusion reigned. The author explains the concept of this third raid on Leipzig and describes the two previous ones in October and December 1943, both of which had been deemed successes. He looks at the third raid from every angle, including the defending forces and describes the daylight raid that followed on the 20th by the USAAF. The book includes appendices listing all RAF aircraft and crew on the raid, route maps and includes many photographs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 222 pages
• Publisher: Pen and Sword (November 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 184415906X
• ISBN-13: 978-1844159062
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,785,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Those combatants deserve better, January 13, 2012

By 

R. Drew - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TARGET LEIPZIG: The RAF's Disastrous Raid of 19/20 February 1944 (Hardcover)

I ordered this book after seeing it on an English website. From today's perspective, the events of WWII can be dry statistics or good oral history. 'Target Leipzig' is the former. Compared to the Middlebrook volumes on Berlin, Hamburg and Nuremberg, this looks like post-interview notes. It needs organization, either chronological, by technology employed, or the units engaged. Some is just disorderly and poorly edited.
Page 95 is an example: "The Bhuthner facility, formerly a piano-making factory, but now an ammunition boxes assembly plant, was in the heart of Leipzig and close to aircraft factories and a 'buzz' bomb plant. It was completely destroyed by fire after being bombed. They had been forced to stop making pianos by the Nazi Government but in 1990 following German reunification they again went back to being a private company making pianos." This is distracting.
Farther down, why does this paragraph stand alone? "The production losses caused were later traced to fifty-one fuselages and two weeks' production capacity." Whose?

WWII was a test of Stanley Baldwin's prediction that 'the bomber will always get through' tied to the theory that bombs can break the spirit of an enemy workforce. In a macabre experiment, political leaders pursued revenge attacks (although eventually Allied planning staffs revised target lists to prioritize the industries feeding the German war machine: Petroleum, ball bearings, aircraft plants, submarine yards and railroads). BEFORE YOU REVISIONISTS OBJECT: THE NAZIS NEVER HAD A SIMILAR LIST AND THEY BOMBED AREA TARGETS FIRST.

Hard as it is to envision, those Lancasters and Junkers 88s were the most advanced weapons systems available to the militaries of their countries. Why didn't Alan Cooper show us drawings of the aircraft electronic systems to find (or avoid) while flying insanely close to other planes loaded with explosives? Devote a chapter to the German command system to alert, concentrate and lead night fighters into the bomber stream. Examine the kinds of British aiming-markers laid to guide the inexperienced bombardiers. Show the blast effects of typical 1,000 and 4,000 pound bombs. Locate Leipzig's bomb shelters and flak sites. As sometimes pointed out, this was a contest of measure and counter-measure. Why didn't Cooper contrast democratic -vs- Nazi industry? Maybe we would understand the bombers' lack of effect on Hitler's cowering populace.

Can you bomb evil? England dispatched waves of night bombers to set aflame areas of old cities; while daytime, US fleets attacked targets on the list. The Middlebrook books communicated the smell of petrol, leather and fear. They made me sad for brave men who kept fighting until their number was up (in 1943, odds were against surviving a full tour). I could understand the reason GAF pilots continued to defend their cities. (Happily, many ex-combatants met as friends after the war; some visited regularly.)
At the end of the war, studies and photos documented supply disruptions and populaces displaced-- but it still took Ground Infantry to seize the country and free the people. England paid dearly for inconclusive results. 'Target Leipzig' left me unsatisfied.